The Vatican was in for some negative coverage this week.
The occasion was provided by the questioning sessions of Archbishop Silvano Tomasi at the hands of some of the members of the Convention against Torture. As predicted by the Vatican the sessions were used to try to put the Church in bad light. Questions were more about the Vatican’s (technically the Holy See, in this instance) handling of child abuse cases that cases of torture. It was very clear that some members of the Committee were out to tarnish the Church.
Archbishop Tomasi was right to point out that if a priest does something criminally wrong it is the duty of the state to take action against him as it should take against all other citizens. The Church, in the past, had its failings in the area and some of them were grave failings. But during the past decade the Church has lived up to its commitment to handle the problem in a systematic, comprehensive, constructive way.
During the second day of questioning Archbishop Tomasi said that 3,400 priests have been disciplined by the Vatican because of sexual abuse, and 848 have been laicised during the last 10 years. It is pertinent to point out that the Church, unlike many states, has no statute of limitation on such cases.
However, the Vatican, this week, should have been in the news for another reason. Unfortunately it hardly was. I refer to the conference organised these days by the Pontifical Academy of the Sciences about “Sustainable Humanity, Sustainable Planet, Our Responsibility.”
The conference was of particular significance as it coincided with the news just given by the Scripps Institute confirming that monthly levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide have surpassed 400 parts per million, not only for the first time in human history, but for possibly in more than a million years.
This is bad news for Planet Earth.
What was being said during the Vatican conference was more important for present and future generations that the loaded and biased agenda of some of the members of the Committee on the Convention against Torture!
A statement giving a lot of food for though was made by Cardinal Maradiaga. His punch line was that in today’s world "man finds himself to be a technical giant and an ethical child."
He points an accusing finger towards the capitalist system:
“In the face of the all-too-evident destruction of Nature, the current capitalist system cannot, on account of its very essence, attain sustainable development, as it engenders and feeds on inequity and social injustice, and is based on the unbridled and predatory use of natural resources, the anarchic production of goods and the encouragement of consumption with the goal of obtaining and concentrating profit.”
Humanity better heed his, and similar words, before it is too late.